


Rock and a Hard Place

by blacktofade



Category: Uncharted
Genre: Coming In Pants, F/M, First Time, Plot What Plot, Tight Spaces
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-10
Updated: 2011-11-10
Packaged: 2017-10-25 22:17:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/275431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blacktofade/pseuds/blacktofade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While trying to avoid Atoq's men, Nate and Elena end up getting stuck in a cave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rock and a Hard Place

“ _This_ is your idea of somewhere safe?” Elena says as she steps into the dust-filled room, letting Nate slide the door into place behind them.

“I think when I said safe, I meant dry and not full of gunners trying to shoot us. Does that work for you; or are you still hoping for that beachfront hotel?”

She laughs sarcastically and sits heavily on a flat rock, exhaustion clear in the way she sighs. Nate pulls a torch off the wall, trying not to think about who or what lit them, and slowly wanders the edge of the room, fingers tracing over cracks and crumbling reliefs. He’s somewhere near the back when he stumbles upon a large opening, which lets in a light breeze and stands the hairs of his arms up on end. The torch flutters and he moves away, hoping they won’t get ambushed by men – or possibly worse – charging through it at any point.

“C’mere,” he says, keeping his voice low and gesturing towards Elena who heaves herself up with a low groan and stumbles her way over to him. Half of the room sits in shadow without Nate’s torch as he tosses it aside, letting it clatter to the floor and burn itself out, but he knows it’s for the best to keep them from being spotted by any passersby. “You probably don’t want to sit by the door. Just in case.”

She lets out a noise that almost sounds like agreement and curls up into the corner, drawling her legs up and resting her forearms and head against her knees.

“I hope there aren’t any spiders nearby.”

Nate doesn’t answer in fear of his life because he _knows_ there are spiders; can actually see one making its way over to Elena’s shoulder. He tries to keep it as casual as possible as he leans over, swiping it away before sitting right next to Elena and nudging her with his elbow.

“You have the whole room and you _have_ to sit this close, Nate?” she complains and he begins to shift away when she grips his forearm and halts him. “I’m just messing with you; you’re fine.”

“I’m fine, am I?” he replies with suggestion in his voice and Elena actually laughs.

“Stop it, you know what I mean.”

They both fall quiet and get almost thirty minutes of peace before Nate hears laughing. He jerks his head forward from where it’s resting back against the wall and remains motionless. Elena’s breathing soft and even next to him, clearly asleep, but there’s no doubt in his mind that he’s heard it.

“Elena,” he whispers, gently shaking her shoulder with his hand and she grumbles tiredly, but doesn’t react further. “Elena.”

“What?” she grunts, lifting her head, threats of pain and death clear in her eyes. “This better be good.”

“Is the possibility of getting shot good enough?”

“What?” she repeats and Nate is up on his feet, grabbing Elena’s upper arm and tugging her up before he can even explain.

“We’ve gotta go.”

He slings his gun back over his shoulder and grips Elena’s hand tightly as he leads them into the crack in the wall he found earlier, hoping the breeze wasn’t a part of his imagination.

“What are you talking about?” she says, louder than Nate expects and he turns, walking backwards while he pressing his palm flat over Elena’s mouth and hushes her.

They only just make it out of sight before Nate hears three or four of Atoq’s men heave the door open and begin to search the room. Elena’s eyes widen in surprise, but she thankfully remains silent as they creep further away, shuffling deeper into the crevice; Nate just hopes it remains as wide as it is because he’s having difficulty getting his broad shoulders through already.

When he’s sure Elena won’t make a sound, he pulls his arm back and turns around, leading the way with a small torch attached to his handgun and keeping his fingers _and_ toes crossed that it actually leads somewhere. Unfortunately, as luck goes, Nate's seems to have dried up somewhere around the age of nine and the stone walls end up getting narrower and narrower until Nate knows he can't go any further without getting stuck and needing a pickaxe and possibly therapy over the destruction of his body image. Elena presses against his back apparently failing to notice the obstruction before she steps away and taps a finger against Nate's shoulder.

“What's the hold up, Indiana?” she whispers directly into his ear, as though she thinks he’s stopped because someone is there.

“We have a bit of a problem,” he replies, keeping his voice low, but not whispering, knowing they’re too far away for the men to hear them now. “I don’t think I can go any further.”

“Oh god, are you stuck?” She actually has the audacity to laugh. “Just turn sideways.”

He does, but he only shuffles a few paces more before he gets stuck again and glances sideways for suggestions.

“How about I go scout ahead? If there’s no way out, we can go back and get rid of those men and find another passageway.”

He figures it’s worth a shot.

“How do we do this?” he asks, slipping the gun from off his back and resting it against the wall nearby.

Elena tugs his arm, pulling him a few steps back in the direction they came and he follows wordlessly. She pushes his shoulders back against the wall and attempts to fit between the space of his chest and the other side of the stone. Her nose presses against his throat and she gets an arm between them before he realises this could either be the worst plan they’ve ever had or the best, but either way it’s going to end in disaster and possibly death, most likely for his dignity and self-preservation. He stills her with a palm on her shoulder, but she can only tip her head sideways to look up at him.

“What?” she breathes against his face and, dear god, the thoughts he’s having. He clears his throat and tries to disappear into the wall.

“Are you sure it isn’t wider further back to make this easier?”

“As far as I remember, this is the widest part, unless you want to go back into that room and have a casual chat with the guards while we switch over.”

He falls silent and Elena takes it as her cue to continue shifting against him, managing to get the first half of her body into the small gap. Her thigh presses precisely between his legs and he knows it definitely isn’t going to end happily for either of them. He shuts his eyes and thinks of the worst possible scenarios: parachuting again, getting shot at by multiple people, Sully in a bikini. None of it seems to work because Elena pauses, shifts slightly, then lets out a noise of exasperation.

“Seriously, Nate?”

“You think I’m enjoying this?” he counters, knowing that unless Elena knees him in the balls, there’s no way his erection is going away anytime soon.

“As a matter of fact, I do. Want to know why I think that, Nate? Because I have your penis digging into my leg.”

Oh god, he wants to die of shame.

“You know what?” he starts, trying to ignore the way Elena still continues to try to push past him. “I’ll be the bigger man and admit it’s been a while, so forgive me if I’m a little touchy.”

“You can say that again.”

“Well, I’m sorry for finding you attractive. It must be so difficult to know that you’re wanted.” She doesn’t respond to that one. “Why don’t we just go back the way we came, get rid of those men, and pretend this never happened?”

Elena finally stops struggling, setting her foot down right on top of Nate’s and he doesn’t know if it’s an accident or not.

He lets out a quiet, “ow,” but she apparently chooses to ignore it.

“Look, it’s fine, Nate; these things happen. Let’s just get through here and worry about everything later.”

She shifts again, rubbing tantalisingly between his legs and he lets out what could be the most embarrassing noise he's ever made during his life so far.

“You can’t do that,” he pleads and gets a hand over his mouth for his troubles.

“If anyone is going to get us caught, it’s you,” she says as she moves again and Nate mumbles behind her palm, lips itching with the vibrations. She places her other hand on his shoulder and pushes, trying to force her way past and Nate’s hands awkwardly lift to her hips helping to shove in the tight space.

“This isn’t going to work,” he says, but it comes out as a series of muffled syllables behind Elena’s hand, which she pays no attention to.

“Breathe in,” she argues and the pain of the rocks digging into Nate’s back almost kills all arousal until Elena slides sideways a few inches, dragging across the length of his erection and forcing his eyes to flutter closed briefly.

“Elena,” he mumbles, but she ignores the noise, pushing harder against him.

“I’m almost there,” she insists, but he knows that isn’t true because there’s a whole other thigh to slide past him yet.

“Elena,” he repeats, trying to get her attention and failing miserably.

“Look, just hold on; we can do this.”

Nate digs his fingertips into Elena’s waist, holding her steady, and she finally stops moving and pulls her hand away from Nate’s mouth.

“What?”

“Elena,” he breathes, thumbs sliding into the belt loops of her jeans. “Just wait – just wait a second.”

She stares at him and he sees the exact moment it dawns on her.

“Oh,” she says quietly. “You’ve got it bad.”

He shuts his eyes and lets out a sigh, feeling Elena’s heartbeat hammering almost in time to his own as his chest presses against her.

“It’s all right,” she says, squeezing his shoulder gently. “I don’t mind; it’s normal in a situation like this.”

“You are such a liar,” he says, watching her face carefully. “Firstly, I don’t know how many times you’ve been in a situation like this, but nothing about it is normal. Secondly, you’re probably just saying it to make me feel better, but even if you’re telling the honest to god, hand over heart truth, it’s still not all right with _me_.”

She exhales slowly and turns her head so she’s actually looking up at him.

“It’s not exactly good timing on your part, but are you actually going to stand there and tell me you hadn’t thought of this? I thought you were going for the rescuing the damsel in distress routine, which usually ends with a Happily Ever After and the possibility of pregnancy.”

He chokes on his tongue, unable to figure out how it works for a moment before he finally replies.

“My fantasies usually end with a soft hotel bed, not a hard stone wall, I’ll admit.”

“Mr I-can-hunt-treasure-in-my-sleep is stuck between a rock and a hard place?”

Nate shifts his weight from one foot to the other, successfully rubbing against Elena with enough pressure for her to notice, if the clenching of her hand is anything to go by.

“I wouldn’t say it was a hard place. More of a firm, but warm and supple place.” He waits for her reaction – which is a slow grin – to continue. “It’s not bad, if I’m honest.”

“Apparently not,” she replies and damn if she doesn’t roll against him, as if he needs reminding exactly why they’re having the conversation to begin with.

“You really shouldn’t do that,” he says quietly. “It’ll only make things worse.”

Elena hums in the back of her throat as though she can’t make up her mind whether to listen to him or not, but she doesn’t move.

“There’s only one way this can end,” she mutters and Nate stares at her for a long while before he eventually concedes, letting out a long sigh.

“I guess – ”

“We’ll have to cut your penis off for me to get past,” she interrupts.

The laugh that escapes, surprising him entirely, is loud enough that he actually pauses, listening for signs that they’ve been caught by the men at the other end of the tunnel. Elena laughs quietly, fingertips pressing against his lips as she shushes him, failing completely to keep the noise down herself.

“I can’t believe you just suggested that,” he says, pulling a face of disgust. “I’ll always be afraid to shut my eyes around you now.”

Elena’s laugh peters out, her thumb rubbing gently along the line of his shoulder holster in a way that’s too distracting for its own good.

“Did you have another ending in mind?”

He doesn’t have an answer for that, but wishes he could see what’s going through Elena’s head to at least give him a clue. He remains silent and eventually Elena lifts her hand to his face, the angle awkward in the small space, but offering the same comfort as it would any other time.

“Hey,” she says softly and he peers down at her, finding her expression soft and open. “Don’t tell me you have performance issues because of those guys back there.”

“How can you even,” he starts, cutting himself off and laughing again because he had definitely expected something more sincere from the way Elena had looked at him. “How on earth did I get stuck with you?”

“I’m pretty sure _I_ got stuck with _you_.”

“It’s your own fault.”

“What, for wanting to stay alive?”

“For finding me rugged and handsome and needing to follow me above and beyond.”

Elena snorts and shakes her head.

“You wish,” she replies, but even as she says it, she presses up onto her toes and leans into him, her mouth warm against his own. He doesn’t hesitate as he returns the kiss, bending his neck and turning his face slightly to keep their noses from knocking. Elena’s shifts her arm, curling her fingers around the unruly ends of his hair, just behind his ears and Nate slides his own fingers into the tiny space between the small of Elena’s back and the wall, the tips of them slipping just under the hem of her shirt. It’s not as though he can pull her any closer, but it doesn’t stop him from trying.

Elena kisses as though she means it, keeping up her habit of never doing anything half-assed, and Nate welcomes the feeling, parting his lips to deepen it. He doesn’t know how he got so lucky because she’s doing things with her tongue that are possibly illegal in parts of the United States, which is fortunate for them that they’re not there; they’re in enough trouble as it is. He nips at her bottom lip, tugging just hard enough to get her to finally let out a noise, even if it is almost silent. She pulls away, breathing hard against his lips, cooling them quickly and he gauges her reaction with a quick glance.

She seems fairly pleased with herself, a faint smirk on her face, and even though there isn’t truly enough space, he bends his arm at an awkward angle, just to trace his thumb over her mouth.

“For being in these particular circumstances, that wasn’t half bad,” she tells him when his hand falls back to his side.

“For being squished together?”

“For being with you.”

She laughs, nails raking gently down the nape of his neck, and he cuts her off halfway through as he presses his mouth once more over hers. He feels her laugh vibrating against his tongue and slides it along her palate, scratching the itch he just can’t reach. She quietens down, falling into an easy rhythm again, her body shifting minutely with every nip of his teeth against her mouth. He’s still hard and aching against her stomach, Elena’s soft movements doing nothing to quell the feelings inside him and he has no clue what to think when Elena’s hands slide down to his hips, holding on tightly as she arches her back slightly, digging her body into his, forcing another embarrassing noise from between his lips. He tightens his grip, attempting to keep her still because he really doesn’t want to come in his pants: A) because Elena will no doubt mock him endlessly over it and B) because it’ll be highly uncomfortable walking around with sticky underwear.

“Elena,” he says quietly when they break the kiss for air, but the look Elena has on her face when she glances up at him makes him completely forget what he was going to say. No one who’s spent the last week jumping out of aeroplanes, being shot at, and climbing halfway through the earth should look as good as she does; he can’t help but slide his lips along her cheek, tasting grime and dried sweat.

“What?” she asks as though she doesn’t know, and damn the consequences, he thinks, because there’s no way he isn’t going to come, not with her enabling so well.

“Nothing,” he replies, nose underneath her ear, the smell of unwashed hair filling his senses, which he’s sure should turn him off, but instead makes his cock twitch with further interest.

Elena lifts the leg that’s already past Nate, placing her foot flat on the wall as she grinds forward against him and there’s no way it isn’t a practised move. There isn’t a doubt in his mind that she knows exactly what she’s doing. This isn’t going to end well for him, he can tell. He gasps, earning himself a lungful of dust from where Elena’s foot scrapes the crumbling wall, and tries not to cough straight into Elena’s face, as he presses his mouth against her shoulder, using it as a barrier. He meets her movements halfway, their hips stuttering in the small space as though they’re grinding on a dance floor, not stuck in some cave deep underground.

He presses his nose into Elena’s throat, mouth sucking marks onto her skin for her to find when they’re finally back in civilisation and reunited with mirrors. He almost knocks his head against the wall when Elena shifts her weight and slides a little more against Nate’s hip, the curve of her inner thigh settling perfectly around the shape of his erection. It’s warm and solid and he’s more than happy to rut against it, sliding closer to bliss.

He wishes beyond anything that there was enough room for either one of them to slip a hand between them, because as lovely as Elena’s thigh is, he can picture her hand inside his pants and it’s a wonderful thought, something that’s possibly a memo for a future to-do list involving the two of them. He can’t even widen his stance, but somehow Elena manages to get her knee between his legs, pressing up so perfectly with just enough pressure that it feels like he’s freefalling from a plane again, his heartbeat thrumming quicker, mouth drying out, and calves shaking gently.

He lets out a soft breath, eyes falling closed as he flicks his tongue against Elena’s jaw and nips sharply as she begins to roll her hips at the new angle. He manages to tangle his hand in her hair, fingers slipping under the elastic band keeping the strands in place; he tugs just hard enough for it to threaten to slide free, but then clenches his knuckles and holds tight.

“Oh god,” he whispers and it’s about the only warning he can give Elena as she presses her breasts harder against his chest and somehow manages to squeeze his cock between her legs, sending him clear over the edge with a shake and a low groan. It punches through him like a lead weight, leaving him struggling to remember how to breathe and why he ever thought this could be a bad idea. Elena doesn’t stop moving, but slows, softening her movements, letting him take every inch of pleasure until it feels as though he’ll have a heart attack if she doesn’t let up.

He drops one hand to her hip, holding her still and she tilts his chin with her face and kisses him gently. He breathes straight into her mouth, his need for oxygen overpowering his need to carry on, despite having what feels like a half-melted spine. He feels her smile before he sees it and she draws away as far as she can, which isn’t much, and finally drops her right leg to the floor.

“Did that help?” she asks.

His first attempt at answering isn’t elegant at all; he clears his throat and stares down at their bodies, his own chest heaving.

“There might be more room in a second.”

He feels himself soften, the wetness around his groin making the whole experience highly uncomfortable, but eventually Elena shifts as though testing Nate’s theory and looks up with a brighter grin.

“Wow, you could fit a bus through here now.”

“I’ll take that a compliment,” he retorts, shoving her gently as she finally slips all the way through onto the other side of him. He takes a moment to rearrange his clothes, grabbing at the crotch of his pants and regretting his decision already. It’ll dry and harden and Elena better be ready to never hear the end of it.

He coughs quietly and hooks one hand around her waist before she can disappear further into the cave, and feels her body humming with anticipation under his palm.

“Hey,” he says, calling her back, and she turns, looking at him expectantly. “What about you?”

She pushes a loose strand of hair out of her face and makes a thoughtful face.

“Let’s just say that you owe me one.”

“And let you miss out on the awesome atmosphere this cave has to offer?”

She laughs and leans in to kiss him quickly before stepping away once more, heading into the darkness beyond.

“Apparently, that’s _your_ thing. I’m more of a soft hotel room bed, kind of girl.”

He grunts in irritation and tugs at his pants again.

“I hope there are lots of spiders in there,” he says to her back and he hears her laugh fading into the distance.


End file.
